[SantaCruzRider]

I never have anyone try to race me — but I do have lots of cars pull into the slow lane when I’m behind them and 1/3 of the cars in the carpool lane (those who only have 1 person in the car) pull out of the lane when I get on the freeway — so I’m guessing I look like the law in the rear view.
Personally, I did plenty of blvd dragging when I was a teenager, so it no longer holds an attraction.

[SantaCruzRider]

Otherwise known as marketing for big Silicon Valley media company.

[SantaCruzRider]

It helps only if you keep it on until after the 6th round.

[SantaCruzRider]

This looks vaguely familiar — I think it might be the recommendation for the break in when you have to keep revs down — and was addressed in an earlier post on Ninja breakin. You might try doing a search (go to Yahoo and search for Ninja 250 break in best beginner motorcycles or something similar.

[SantaCruzRider]

Not sure why it’s a surprise that a bike depreciates in value in the first few years of it’s life. Same thing happens with almost all cars and half of all marriages.

You biggest depreciation comes the first 5 minutes you roll out of the dealer’s lot. First year is the worst year, followed by the second and then the third — and you get the idea. Depreciation typically flattens after a decade or so, and then at year 20-25, if you can keep it running, you have yourself a Classic and the value starts to rise.

So you’re 34-year-old Beamer is now worth more than you paid — that’s no big surprise. But also keep in mind that the $4,200 you paid in ’85 was worth probably 3 times as much in the current economy. If you’d invested it instead, say in GM stock it would now worth something like, umm, nothing… haha. But you get the idea.

[SantaCruzRider]

I second the advice that you sit on a lot of bikes and see what feels right.

Coming from MX, you might find sport bikes that have handlebar risers have a more standard/neutral ergo that is closer to the MX stance. Personally, I find this ergo feels the most comfortable and makes me feel the most in control. You’ll usually find similar body positioning with sport tourers, some sport bikes that use handlebars or risers rather than clip-ons, and dual sports.

As for sport bike speed, yes, pound for pound, they are usually faster than cruisers, but I wouldn’t take that as a negative for either. I ride a 1000cc sport tourer with an engine based on a Ninja 900, and I get passed ALL the time by guys on supposedly slower bikes. (This is not a recommendation for buying a 1-liter bike.)

[SantaCruzRider]

Good advice not to get distracted. I’ve got 2k+ songs on mine — half of them loaded by my wife, son, friends, etc. I set it to shuffle and you never know what’s coming up — but I listen to it without fussing with the iPod.

I have found that some songs make me ride faster. Especially true with anything by Britney Spears. I suspect it’s because subconsciously I’m trying to ride away from all the noise.

[SantaCruzRider]

There’s no hearing test for licenses because deafness isn’t a restriction to getting licensed.

The way I understand it is that folks who are deaf typically compensate by being extra alert and more highly atuned to their remaining senses. Those of us who can hear but render ourselves temporarily deaf with loud music, cell phones, etc don’t share that trait.

[SantaCruzRider]

Congrats on the new bike. Sounds like you got great advice and made the right choice.
Enjoy

[SantaCruzRider]

Some state laws say no ear buds or ear plugs in both ears, and/or no headphones covering both ears.

Helmet speakers are basically headphones mounted in the helmet. It could come down to how the LEO interprets that (but I’m no attorney — so don’t take this a legal advice).

But a large number of riders, self included, wear ear plugs to cut the wind noises. It’s widely argued that the engine and wind noise of many bikes and helmets are sufficient to cause longterm hearing damage, and in the short term, is very fatiguing.

So many of us may already be illegal because we choose to protect our hearing. Personally, if I’m going to wear ear plugs, I might as well have some pumping out tunes. So I wear noise-cancelling buds plugged to an iPod. I keep the sound low enough to hear sirens and such, but just loud enough to hear the song.

[SantaCruzRider]

Sucks that some idiot didn’t see you in the crosswalk — obviously he wasn’t paying attention. But I’m not sure how hearing you would have made you safer. You could wear the loudest dang shoes in the world and I still would not hear you walking across the street when I’m in my car, even with the radio off.

[SantaCruzRider]

I agree with Munch on the comfort question.

As for your specific question: being able to flat foot is definately a confidence builder. And being on your tip toes can be dangerous, especially for a new rider. When you say you are on your toes, does that mean that you have the balls of both feet down? If so, then you may be OK. But if you are truly on your toes or on just one foot, you put yourself in a situation where you may not be able to get your foot down when you’re sideways on a slope or you stop and your feet are in dip in the road. You also have no traction of leverage for walking the bike back out of a space.

Another thing to consider is that many bikes can be modified for shorter riders. Search this site for more info on options — some are fairly simple and cheap.

[SantaCruzRider]

Dude, he was busting your chops. No bike or bike maker is supreme in all areas. It’s like pizza, it’s all debatable, whether it’s Chicago vs New York style or your favorite spot. The debate is half the fun. Sure some idiots don’t get the benefits of the opposing view, but that’s why they get to be idiots.

[SantaCruzRider]

No reason to equivocate. IMHO: hook your dad up with his vision or riding cruisers with his son. Truth is that for many of us motorcycle is 90% of it, sport vs cruiser vs dually is the rest. If you eliminated two of the three above classes, I’d still find something to love riding. And I’d thank God every day I got to ride it rather than being jammed into my incrediblywell-equipped and luxurious car.

I would seriously advise you to try out a bunch of bikes, including use bikes. If you could find your way towards a slightly used bike, the Honda Magna is an awesome compromise between cruiser and sport bike. It’s often classed as a sport-cruiser, but is probably the only one in the 800 range. It’s a giant-killer and it’s power demands respect . It’s also wickedly cool looking.

[SantaCruzRider]

You paint a bit of an apocolyptal picture, but base on your scenario, I’d look for a Suzuki 400 or Kawi 650. These dual sports can be set up to run close to sport bikes on road, but still have enough off-road ability to hop curbs, run dirt roads, and eat up pot holes like nobodies biz.

Unfortunately, they have more of a sporty or dirt style. Cruiser style is at the opposite end of the “all terrain” spectrum. There’s an old saying about taking a motorcyle offroad — you can take any bike off road once, you just may not be able to ride it back.

[Author]

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